Lyon Co. Manager Sentenced for Pork Producer Fraud Scheme

Lyon County man Robert Harry Bickerstaff was sentenced to six months in federal prison on June 24, 2024, for his role in a scheme to defraud pork producers while working as regional manager of Iowa livestock dealer Lynch Livestock.

Bickerstaff, 52, from Rock Rapids, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on December 1, 2023. He admitted to falsifying weights and numbers of swine delivered to buying stations in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota between 2018 and 2021.

As part of the scheme, Bickerstaff manipulated scales using tools like crowbars and created fraudulent documents for transmission to Lynch Livestock’s headquarters. Concerned about an investigation, he also instructed others to destroy incriminating materials.

Bickerstaff, who had a degree in Agribusiness and won a ‘Hog Wild’ award from a pork producers’ association, was released on bond and is set to surrender to the United States Marshal at a later date. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy L. Vavricek prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the USDA Office of Inspector General and FBI.

Bickerstaff is the fifth manager of Lynch Livestock sentenced in this scheme. Previous convictions include Billie Joe Wickham, Charlie Lynch, Leland ‘Pete’ Blue, Tyler Thoms, and Lynch Family Companies, Inc., which was ordered to pay over $3 million in restitution.

Court file information can be found at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl, and the case file number is 23-CR-2026. Prior case files are 21-CR-2074, 21-CR-2042, 22-CR-2043, and 22-CR-2044.